12.9.09

STATUS UPDATE FOR " I NEVER ASK FOR IT "

The list below is a compilation of facebook status messages. The event asked participants to be Action Heroes by changing their profile photo to any of the ones shared here and their status message to a statement that questions the premise "she asks for it" .

Add in yours and or send us what you found on your friends status message.

Tanvee.Rujuta Nabar.Vaidya- I'm a very loud person and often end up drawing attention to myself in public because in my madness. I NEVER ASK FOR IT

Pooja Gupta - "What is his problem? Can't he see that i am not interested ?"

Pooja Gupta- "Why can i not loiter on the street without reason ?"

Jasmeen Patheja-" is an unapologetic hot hudgi. I never ask for it."

Kinshuk Surjan - " I stared at a girl today. Am I an eve teaser ? "

Apoorva Bhandari- " No matter what time of the day or night I am out , I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'

Annie Zaidi- Nobody goes 'asking for it'.

Apurva Mathad- I saw someone being whistled at near the Sony world junction. She did not seem to like it..

Mina Hussain- wears what she likes to the bazaar. I never ask for it.

What did you say on facebook ? Tell us QUICK!

The facebook event was designed by Tanvee Nabar and Pooja Gupta. The sign Hot Hudgi Here has been created by Neha Bhat. Blank Noise did a 2 week workshop with the team and this work emerged from this process. Tanvee and Pooja continued to work with Blank Noise after the 2 week workshop; hence the event!

Here's what Tanvee and Pooja have to say:

The basic idea was to spread the idea of ' I NEVER ASKED FOR IT'.

The reason for using Facebook is mainly because we noticed that there is a disconnect between a blog or a website and people who are not 'looking' for this blog or website. Whereas with Facebook, we are sure that people will see the message. The question was - "How can we get lay-people (people not having an active interest already), both men and women, to engage with this idea of 'not asking for it' in particular and Street Sexual Harassment in general?"

The reason we picked this was because we were both surprised by the extent to which we have ourselves internalized ways to be safe and thought that safety should not be a negotiated circumstance.

Pooja felt that that this requirement for women to internalize or be blamed for the ‘consequences’ worried her.

Tanvee felt that she wanted to concentrate on not street sexual harassment but the attitude that it was received with, which often led to blaming the woman.

So we felt that through this concept of ‘I never ask for it’ we could introduce to a public this view point of it not being the woman’s fault. The answer was - Facebook. A popular social networking site that thousands use every day. What interested us in particular was STATUS MESSAGES and how Facebook 'friends' can comment or 'like' your status message and how this could be harnessed for public debate. It may bring different friends, who don’t already know each other in contact, creating an awareness of the universality of these problems.

We see it as a neutral space for public debate and not a male-bashing event.

HOT HUDGI HERE was created by Neha Bhat. Tanvee and Pooja appropriated it for the facebook event by creating variations of the same such as ; HOT PATAKA HERE, HOT ITUM HERE, HOT MAAL HERE etc.

Here's what Neha Bhat has to say:

The sign is a reaction to a recent case of violence against women in the city of Bangalore, which I had a close encounter with.

A group of drunk men forcibly entered a house occupied by young, college-going girls and boys in the late hours of night and demanded, “ Hudgi, Hudgi, yelli?”, in kannada,or ‘Girl! Girl, where is girl?” in their drunken stupor. Physical violence towards whoever the men encountered there followed and ended, only when some helpful neighbors physically intervened.

To mark the site of this type for violence and harassment against women, what if the sign ‘Hot Hudgi Here’ was blown up to a size of around ten feet and installed there?

Another idea would be to make every woman on a particular street wear a T shirt with the Hot Hudgi sign printed on it. Everyone woman on the street would declare that she was ‘hot’.

This type of a methodology inverts the nature of the victim, by saying, “Yes, I’m hot. Here, I tell you I’m hot. I invite you to look at me. Now what?”

Anubhav Pradhan- "Scratching crotch in public is injurious to mental health. Men, go find a loo!"Thurs at 18:42

Comments:

Jonathan George: Not to mention the peeing away to glory in public.Thurs at 21:29 · Manu Pande: the cute little game of pocket billiards u mean..Thurs at 23:38 · Rajendra Parihar: forgiveness should be practiced on a day-to-day basis!But yes, anubhav your plea for public morality will open many minds, and eyes too!! :(18 hours ago ·

Its high time to educate our fellow country-men to respect the women / girls / children... Blank noise is creating a great awareness to the society... All we can do is to support it with a chorus - "No one ever asked for it" and "Mind your business.. and let others mind theirs...". Isn't that what we got independence for?????

"This goes out to all those people who take eve-teasing in their stride and to tell them that we have to give up on this 'chalta hai' attitude. and for all those males who think we're objects, who think we were made to 'use and throw', who think that all girls are their property and who think we ask for it by the clothes we wear. Breaking news. We're not!19 hours ago clear

"So: there is difficulty but I surmount it."The true fact is-I am not your burning candle, to subside limply in a stiff pool of wax; nor yet your electric bulb, so tender of filament and short lived as the moth that seeks it out. Neither a...m I made of your common shoe-leather nor should I spring any leaks. I Shine! I walk! I Float...BUT I NEVER ASK FOR IT.

"No matter what I’m wearing, I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'.No matter what my body type or size is, I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'.No matter where I am, I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'.No matter when I am out, I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'.No matter the fact that I was alone, I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'.No matter what language I’m using or my skin colour, I NEVER 'ASK FOR IT'.Street sexual harassment, violence, or eve teasing is an unwanted experience "

"So: there is difficulty but I surmount it."The true fact is-I am not your burning candle, to subside limply in a stiff pool of wax; nor yet your electric bulb, so tender of filament and short lived as the moth that seeks it out. Neither a...m I made of your common shoe-leather nor should I spring any leaks. I Shine! I walk! I Float...BUT I NEVER ASK FOR IT.

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.